This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/202,088, filed on Aug. 12, 2005, the contents of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a movable lens control device for controlling movements of a plurality of movable lens groups of a lens system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In retractable zoom lens barrels having a plurality of zooming lens groups (movable lens groups) which are moved to perform a zooming operation and a focusing lens group (movable lens group) positioned behind the zooming lens groups which is moved to perform a focusing operation, it is generally the case that firstly only the zooming lens groups are moved forward from respective initial positions (retracted positions) thereof with the focusing lens group remaining stationary at an initial position (retracted position) thereof, and subsequently the focusing lens group is moved forward upon the zooming lens groups reaching predetermined respective positions thereof (e.g., positions at wide-angle extremity of a zooming range) when the retractable lens barrel is extended from a retracted position to an extended position thereof.
However, there is a possibility of the focusing lens group having moved forward from the initial position unintentionally for some reason before the zooming lens groups are moved forward to respective extended positions from the initial positions. If this happens, a malfunction may occur in forward movements of the zoom lens groups toward the extended positions from the initial position.